The present invention relates to a method for administrating and handling large amounts of data, such as e.g. statistical data, events or phenomena, the data being associated with a spatial entity, such as a geographical entity. The invention also relates to the computer system adapted for performing the method of the invention as well as the computer program product for adapting a general-purpose computer system to performing the method. The data are organised in layers of data having a mutual relation, primarily defining rules for interaction with other layers of data so as to generate derived layer of data of which one or more are output layers. The computer system represents the output layers to the user by means of a virtual representation of a spatial entity, such as a topological or geographical entity generated by the computer, and the data for generating the layers are administrated by a data communication network.
In particular, the invention relates to a method according to which at least a part of the representation of the spatial entity comprises a number of sub-layers arranged hierarchically so that a lower layer comprises a representation of the geographical entity in greater detail than a higher level, and the data or parts of the data may be associated with one or more of these sub-layers.
Alternatively or additionally, different sets of data may be represented as different layers that interact and are presented to the user as being superimposed on the representation of the geographical entity, the different layers of data may furthermore be enabled to interact so as e.g. to produce a new representation for the user or to initiate actions at systems or items being external to the computer operated by the user.
It is known today to exchange data representing e.g. information or interaction with computer systems, over a communication network, such a an open network, and for a user operating a computer connected to the network to have access to the data by using a browser. However, with the present and rapidly increasing amount of data available on open, public network, it is very difficult for a user to find and select the relevant information from the data being available.
The organisation of data and the presentation of the organisation of data to the user is essential for enabling the individual user to have access to the amount of data from a practical and not only theoretical point of view. A spatial representation having a commonly known mapping would, for at least data having an association with said mapping, be a natural environment for the human mind to perceive passive and active information as contrast to the present structure or lack of structure of information.
It is known from WO 97/07467 to present a map of an area supplied from a map server to a user and superimpose on this map information relating to a place of interest. The information may contain details of hotels, restaurants, shops or the like, associated with the geographical co-ordinates of each location.
It is furthermore known from EP 0 802 516 A2 to present a three-dimensional map to the user on a two-dimensional screen for navigational use. The map may be presented to the user from the viewpoint of the user or from any selected viewpoint.
Another system for navigational use is known from EP 0 785 535 A1 which discloses a guidance system for vehicles. The system displays road maps to the user as well as other information upon request, such as traffic information an sightseeing information, and the display device is in wireless connection with information supply servers. The display device comprises a position detection section, using e.g. the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the detected position is used to select the area to show on the display.
The known systems are only able to administer a limited amount of information being selected by the user from a small, well defined library of information. The systems offers no possibility of performing an automated selection among a large amount of information to obtain a limited number of high relevance to the user. Thus, these known systems include no advantages over the known general purpose interface applications, browsers, for searching and retrieving information from a plurality of external servers via a public communication network.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for administrating data by organising the data according to spatial entities, such as topological or geographical entities, to which the data are associated, allowing the data to interact mutually between different data layers or between data layers and other data to generate derived data and represent these derived data to the user by means of a virtual representation of the spatial entity generated by a computer.
It is a further object to allow the data to interact so as to reduce the amount of data to be presented to the user, by means of excluding data or by means of combining more data into one new informational item.
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method according to which the virtual representation is of the earth and/or a subpart thereof, such as a country, a city, a house etc.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method according to which the virtual representation is hierarchically organised in a number of levels having different degree of details, and the data may be associated with one or more of the levels.
These as well as other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
The present invention offers a number of advantages with respect to administration and presentation of data which will be discussed in the following.
The present invention relates to a method for administering information at least some of which are related to a spatial entity, comprising
providing, in a computer system, a data system residing on data storage means of the computer system and representing the spatial entity;
at least some of the data of the data system (co-ordinate data) representing respective sets of spatial co-ordinates of a co-ordinate system spanning the spatial entity,
at least some of the data of the data system (spatial entity basic descriptor data) being associated with co-ordinate data and describing basic properties of the spatial entity at the respective co-ordinates, or the co-ordinate data being predefined as co-ordinate data pertaining to a particular known spatial entity,
at least some of the data of the data system (layer data) being associated with co-ordinate data and describing phenomena related to the spatial entity at the respective co-ordinates, the layer data being organised in at least two groups (layers), each group (layer) containing one or several layer data,
the method comprising the step of outputting, to an output device, layer data and representing the layer data at the output device in such a manner that one or more phenomena described by the layer data can be perceived as related to the particular position of the spatial entity which is defined by the co-ordinate data with which the particular layer data is/are associated,
the data system comprising property data permitting the definition of how the data of a particular layer, or certain data of a particular layer, is/are to be perceived in relation to the basic descriptor data and/or in relation to data of one more other layers, and the output representing the spatial entity in accordance with these data.
The data storage means of the computer system are computer-readable media such as e.g. magnetic discs or tapes, optical discs, CD-ROMS, RAM circuits, etc., each media being in permanent or temporarily data-communication contact with the computer system.
The co-ordinate data define the spatial entity and are used to interpret the relation between the layer data and the spatial entity so as to enable a possible representation of the layer data together with at least some of the spatial entity basic descriptor data so that the representation can be perceived as related to the given position of the spatial entity. The spatial entity basic descriptor data describe properties of the spatial entity, typically a map in two or preferably in three dimensions, which for at least some selected areas comprises a vast number of details down to the interior of rooms in a house, TV-sets, electronic appliances, etc. For a simple use of the method, the spatial entity basic descriptor data may comprise sufficient information to relate a given position, such as one provided from a mobile output device, e.g. a cellular telephone equipped with a positioning detecting system, to a position within the spatial entity, so that layer data relating to the given position may be outputted to the output device, e.g. to be presented as an audio output. The phenomena described by the layer data are to be understood broadly as any kind of simple or complex information linked to a specific position or a specific area within the spatial entity. A phenomenon may be a restaurant or a hotel to which a number of information optionally are associated, such as prices, telephone and telefax number etc., and may alternatively or additionally comprise a link in the form of an data communication address to an external server on which additional information is stored, so that information being external to the computer system may be obtained via the system. A phenomenon may also be an event, such as a traffic situation report or a forecast, news being actual or of a historical character, commercials, ongoing events, such as the movement of a mail item through a distribution system, etc. Yet another type of phenomena is statistical data which typically are related to an area, the data being of crime rates, whether statistics, exchange rates, clouds, costs of telephone service. These examples of phenomena are meant to illustrate the concept of the term xe2x80x9cphenomenaxe2x80x9d and not to limit the interpretation of the term.
The output device may comprise means for representing the layer data by means of visual indication and/or sound indication and/or sensory indication and/or olfactory indication and/or indication which can be transformed to one or more of these indications. However, in the most common and preferred embodiment of the invention, the output device comprises at least a visual output device and the representation of the layer data comprises a visual representation.
The spatial entity may be a virtual entity such as an imaginative entity but preferably and for the use of representing phenomena related to the physical world, the spatial entity is a universe, globe, country, landscape, house, room or other physical spatial entity.
The output device may be associated with a computer being remote to the computer system comprising the data storage means on which the data system resides and the layer data are outputted to the output device via a public data communication network. The output device may be a mobile device being in wireless contact with the computer system.
The spatial entity basic descriptor data are preferably map data defining a virtual representation of geographical or topographical characteristics of the spatial entity so that the phenomena straightforwardly may be perceived as being related to the spatial entity.
According to a particular embodiment of the invention, the property data of at least one of the layers comprise time span data defining dates pertaining to at least some of the phenomena described by the layer data. The particulars of the time span data are discussed below.
The layers defined in the data system may in an important embodiment comprise at least two types of layers, one type (input layer) comprising input data, and another type (derived layer) comprising at least some data which are the result of interaction between data of at least two layers of the data system or which are the result of the processing of data of a layer and other data of the data system. In particular, the layer data being outputted to the output device may preferably be a derived layer of the data system.
The inclusion in the output layer data of a phenomenon described by the layer data of one layer of the data system may be triggered by a phenomenon described by the layer data of another layer of the data system. Examples of this feature are given below.
The present, method may comprise an input layer generation procedure having the steps of
retrieving from an external server via a public data communication network data being associated with the spatial entity,
generating a layer of input data from the retrieved data, and
entering said layer of input data into the data system of the computer system.
This input layer generation procedure may further comprises the steps of
retrieving from an external server via a public data communication network property data being associated with the retrieved data,
generating property data pertaining to said layer of input data, and
entering said property data into the data system of the computer system.
The generation of a derived layer resulting from interaction between data of at least two layers may comprise, for each particular position of the spatial entity to which layer data of a least on of the layers relate, the steps of
correlating property data pertaining to said layer data,
generating a layer data of the derived layer from said layer data relating to the particular position of the spatial entity and said correlation, and
entering the generated layer data into the data system as pertaining to the derived layer and being related to the particular position of the spatial entity.
In particular, the correlation of property data and the generation of layer data may be performed according to rules defined for the combination of layers of which the interaction is performed, said rules deviating from rules applied to deviating combination of layers and said rules being applied to each particular position of said spatial entity, and the generation of a derived layer may additionally comprise the steps of
correlating property data pertaining to said layer data,
generating property data of the derived layer from said correlation, and
entering the property data into the data system as pertaining to the derived layer.
Said correlation of property data and the generation of property data are preferably performed according to rules defined for the combination of layers of which the interaction is performed, said rules deviating from rules applied to deviating combination of layers and said rules being applied to each particular position of said spatial entity.
According to one type of generation, the generated layer data is selected from layer data of one of the layers in question. In particular, the property data of at least one of the layers in question may comprise penetration level data pertaining to the phenomena described by the layer data of said layer and at the property data of least one of the other layers in question comprise resistance level data pertaining to the phenomena described by the layer data of said other layer, the correlation of property data comprises the step of comparing the penetration level of one or more possible phenomena associated with the particular position of the spatial entity with the resistance level of one or more possible phenomena of the at least one other layer and associated with the particular position of the spatial entity.
According to another type of generation, the generate layer data is calculated from numerical representation of layer data of one or more of the layers in question.
It is preferred that the layer data of at least some the layers are up-to-date, for which reason the data of at least one of the input layers may be updated regularly by means of the input layer generation procedure and derived layers related to said input layer(s) are re-generated accordingly.
The external server providing data, which may be of the form of xe2x80x9cdata collectionsxe2x80x9d as described later, may be a network server which is communicating with on one hand the client and on the other hand with one or more suppliers of layer data or precursors for layer data. An individual supplier may supply all the data necessary for establishing and maintaining the layer data of one or more layers, or an individual supplier may supply part of the data necessary for establishing and maintaining the layer data as well as the property data of one or more layers, another part of the data being supplied by the server and/or by another supplier.
In order to improve the users perception of the integration of geographical entities and information or data, the representation of the geographic or topographic entity may be three-dimensional rendering, preferably dynamic (moving) three-dimensional rendering so that the representation may create the impression of an entity that can be moved around and turned. In this way, the user may see any part of the geographical entity as the central part, which feature is particularly useful when the geographical entity is a globe, the earth. The dynamic character of the three-dimensional rendering of the representation of the geographic entity is preferably maintained substantially throughout a session.
The individual layers may be zoomable so that they when zoomed reveal greater detail of the layer. Alternatively or additionally may one or more layers comprise a number of sub-layers which can be activated locally, territorially or globally within the topological or geographical representation to present ore details of or different aspects of the phenomena.
Likewise, the representation of at least some of the geographic or topographic entities locally, territorially or globally may comprise a number of sub-layers organised in a hierarchy and the sub-layers may be opened by user-activation of a domain, such as mouse-clicking at the representation of a particular geographic or topographic location, so as to present a new representation of the geographic location on a level of greater details or, expressed in another manner on a lower hierarchical level, and activation of a domain of the representation of lower hierarchical level opens a representation on a still lower hierarchical level to the extent that such a representation is provided for.
The two types of levels/layers may in a preferred embodiment of the invention be combined, so that representations of phenomena or events are associated with each of the hierarchical geographic or topographic levels.
One hierarchical level of geographic entity may be a globe or a globe-like three-dimensional entity, such as the earth, or the sky as seen from the earth, and the dynamic three-dimensional rendering comprises turn ng of the globe. Indeed, the highest hierarchical level of geographic entity may very well be a globe or several globes.
A sequence of hierarchically increasingly lower level s may comprise one or more of the following parts: globexe2x86x92nation, state or cityxe2x86x92streetxe2x86x92buildingxe2x86x92room or parts of the sequence or shortcuts within the sequence or equivalent stepwise approaching a particular locality where a phenomenon is represented. This phenomenon may be a representation of a commercial product or a commercial service that may be represented in connection with advertising the product or the service.
The commercial product may be represented in three-dimensional rendering which optionally is dynamic and/or animated. The representation of the commercial product may advantageously interact with the information comprised within other layers so that the advertising of the product is limited to a very precisely defined group of customers or users in a precisely defined set of situations. In this manner, over-feeding of customers with non-relevant advertising thus creating the opposite effect, may be prevented.
Furthermore, the commercial product may be represented in dynamic three-dimensional rendering, wherein the representation allows operations, by actuating a domain or domains of the representation, selected from opening openable parts of the product, moving movable parts of the product, an dismantling dismantable parts of the product.
The commercial product is a product having actuating means actuating particular functions of the product, and the representation of the commercial product permits actuation, such as by activation of a particular domain of the representation, of one or more and optionally all of the actuation means, the representation responding to the actuation by representing the particular function actuated. The commercial product may be an electronic device such as a computer, a cellular telephone, a television set, etc., and the actuation results in execution of the function in the representation. Preferably, at least part of the actual programming of the functions of the actual commercial product has been translated into a computer-readable code, such as a code in a machine-independent language such as Java or a Java-like language, which code is executable on one or more network resources such as the client, to result in representation of the same functionality on the output device of the client.
When the above-mentioned actuation results in a function that can be executed through the network, the function is, in the representation, actually executed through the network, such as, e.g., the dialling of a telephone number on a telephone represented in the representation will result in the number actually being called via the network.
The data forming the indication values constituting the representation of the geographic or topographic entity or at least some of these values may be supplied to the system or communication network by an official entity having authority with respect to the particular type of data, the official authority may in particular be the provider of the particular layer or sublayer of geographic or topographic indication values or be the provider of the indication values of the full geographic entity.
The authority may be one appointed by the providers of the information or be the proprietors of the present system and method or representatives of these, or it may preferably be a state authority or a municipal authority. The authority may, when the geographic entity comprises more than one state, be a federal or multilateral authority, such as The United States of America, The European Commission, United Nations, etc.
The representation of a commercial product or service within the system and method of the present invention may be associated with representation of the price of the product or service and representation of dealers within one or more geographic territories. The price can be based on a neutral basic price provided, e.g., by the provider of the representation of the product, and is recalculated taking into consideration local taxes and other local costs based on information on local taxes and costs supplied by suppliers different from the provider of the representation of the product.
In one embodiment, a layer or a combination of layers to be included in generating the output to the output device is selected by the user of the client from a menu of layers or of stored profiles representing combinations of layers. Types of phenomena, data or events to be represented may also be selected by the user of the client from a menu of types of phenomena, data or events or of stored profiles representing combinations of types of phenomena, data or events. Furthermore, the combinations of layers and types of phenomena and/or data and/or events may possibly be selected by the user of the client from a menu of stored profiles representing such combinations.
The present invention further relates to a computer system comprising at least one general purpose computer having one or more compute programs stored within data storage means associated therewith, the computer system being arranged for as well as being adapted for performing the method according to the invention as disclosed above.
Furthermore, the present invention relates to a compute program product being adapted to enable a computer system comprising at least one general purpose computer having data storage means associated therewith and being arranged suitably to perform the method according to the invention as disclosed above.